Anyone who has read more than a few books on Tibetan Buddhism will have encountered references to the Six Yogas of Naropa. These six - inner heat, illusory body, clear light, consciousness transference, forceful projection, & bardo yoga - represent one of the most poplular Tibetan Buddhist presentations of yogic technology. Given by the Indian sage Naropa to Marpa the Translator, these teachings gradually pervaded thousands of monasteries and hermitages throughout the Tibetan cultural region. Tsongkhapa's discussion of the Six Yogas is regarded as one of the finest on the subject to come out of Tibet. His treatise has served as the fundamental guide to the system as practiced in more than three thousand Gelukpa monasteries, nunneries and hermitages across Central Asia over the past five and half centuries.Glenn H. Mullin's study of the history, substance, and philosophical legacy of the Six Yogas of naropa, together with his translation of Tsongkhapa's treatise, provides an authoritative guide to this tradition.Six Yogas of Naropa, Glenn Mullin, Snow Lion Publications, Paperback, 276 pages, $34.95

Glenn H. Mullin lived in the Himalayas from 1972 to 1984, where he trained in tantric Buddhism under numerous Tibetan masters. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Glenn, an internationally renowned author and lectureron things tibetan, lived and studied in India (Dhataramsala and Nepal) for 12 years and has beeninvolved in many film and TV projects promoting T ibetan art and culture.

Preface

11

Introduction

19

Tsongkhapa and the Lineage of the Six Yogas

19

The Buddhist Tantric Tradition in India

24

Naropa

26

The Legacy of the Six Yogas

29

The Six Yogas, Three Bardo States, and Nine Blendings

33

Lama Tsongkhapa's A Book of Three Inspirations

44

Section One of Tsongkhapa's Text

47

The Preliminary Trainings Associated with the General Mahayana

47

The General Tantric Preliminaries

49

The Tantric Preliminaries Unique to the Six Yogas System

51

The Generation Stage Yogas

52

Introduction to the Nature of the Mind

55

Introduction to the Nature of the Body

58

The Physical Exercises and Meditations upon the Empty Shell Body

60

Section Two of Tsongkhapa's Text

62

The Inner Heat Yoga

63

Karmamudra

69

The Illusory Body Yoga

73

The Bardo Yoga

78

The Clear Light Yoga

81

The Consciousness Transference Yoga

85

The Forceful Projection Yoga

87

Concluding Notes

89

The Six Yogas of Naropa in English Translation

90

The Seventh Dalai Lama's Prayer to the Six Yogas Lineage

95

Some Historical Lineage Considerations

99

A Parting Perspective on Tsongkhapa the Great

103

A Book of Three Inspirations: A Treatise on the Stages of Training in the Profound Path of Naro's Six Dharmas

Prologue

109

The preliminary meditations, which build the foundations of this path

111

The preliminaries that are general meditations derived from the common Mahayana teachings

111

Why it is necessary for training in this tradition to be preceded by training in the practices of the common Mahayana

111

The actual stages of training the mind in that path

113

The preliminaries that belong exclusively to the highest yoga tantra tradition

116

The general Vajrayana preliminaries

116

Why it is necessary to receive the complete empowerments

116

Why it is necessary to observe the tantric precepts

118

The preliminaries emphasized in this Naropa system

119

Having established the preliminaries, how to train in the actual tantric meditations

121

The meditations of the generation stage yogas

121

The meditations of the completion stage yogas

126

The nature of the basis

126

The nature of the mind

126

The nature of the body

131

The explanation of the stages of traversing the path

133

The meditations upon the physical exercises, together with the meditation upon the body as empty